tbask



May 20, 1924. 494,649

0, c. TRASK BURNER IGNITING DEVICE Filed April 20'. 1923 a anion/ OIL 9 4mm 9 I 954 9 Patented May 20, 1924.

UNITED STATES BR C. TRASK, OF OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA.

BURNER-IGNITING DEVICE.

Application filed April 20, 1923. Serial No. 633,564.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ORR C. TRASK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, have invented certain Improvements in Burner-Igniting Devices, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

In the construction of automobiles de- 1 signed to be propelled by steam forces, it

is the practice to provide on the forward end of the automobile a boiler within which steam is generated by means of burners placed thereunder.

These burners usually consist of a main burner which is used for the purpose of generating suflicient steam to propel the automobile under normal use and a pilot burner, the province of which is to maintain the water in the boiler at a temperature from which steam may be quickly generated by ignition of the main burner.

It has been the practice to ignite this pilot burner by the use of matches, spark plugs or some similar means, which practice is very unsatisfactory because of the inconvenience and lack of positive operation.

It is the prime object of my invention to provide means whereby the pilot burner may be easily and quickly ignited by the operator from the drivers compartment of the automobile, and whereby the operation becomes positive and assured.

It is a further object of my invention to provide such an igniter of cheap and simple construction and which will last the lifetime of the automobile.

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists in the arrangement, combination and construction of the various parts of my improved device as described in the specification, claimed in my claims and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of my improved device with certain parts of the automobile upon which it is mounted shown in section.

Fig. 2 is an elevation of a pilot burner uch as is used in steam automobiles and showing my improved igniter mounted thereon.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the same.

Fig. 4 is a modified form of a portion of my device.

I have shown a conventional boiler 1 mounted under the hood 2 of an automobile conductor 8 leading therefrom and a pilot burner 3 and fuel feed line 4 adapted to allow the passage of fuel therethrough and through the lines 5 and 6 into the pilot burner 3, all of old and well known construction.

I have also shown a battery 7 having a through a kick switch 9 and a conductor 10 which passes along through the feed line 4, and through the conductor 11 back into the battery The object of this circuit is to preheat the fuel passing through the line 4 so as to vaporize the same and causes it to pass into the pilot burner 3 when it is desired to light the pilot burner 3 after the same has been out of use for a period of time. This practice is also old in the art.

I then provide a conductor 12 leading from the conductor 8 and attached to a resistance unit 14 on through the conductor 15, the switch 16 located on the instrument board 17 of the vehicle and the conductors 18 and 11 and then back into the battery 7.

I have here shown the resistance unit 14 as being a piece of metal, preferably of high resistance, such as the material known commercially as chromel, welded by acetylene welding, or otherwise suitably secured to the feed line 4. Equally efficient results may be obtained, however, by providing a section of the feed line of high resistance material, welded or otherwise suitably secured at each end to the feed line. This is shown in Fig. 4, wherein a piece of high resistance meta-l pipe 20 has been inserted in the line 4 and joined thereto as at 21 and 22. In this manner, it may not be necessary to provide separate means for pre-heating the fuel, as this may be accomplished when the fuel passes through high resistance metal portion of the feed line.

In the practical operation of my improved device. the operator will first preheat the fuel in the passage 4 by pressing the kickswitch 9 and thus making the necessary electrical connections for the same. At the same time, he will throw on the switch 16 so that current will flow from the battery to the resistance unit 14 with the result that the resistance unit 14 will be heated to a red heat and the vaporized fuel flowing through the line 6 from the line 4 into the pilot burner 3 will be ignited.

It will readily be seen that this practice makes unnecessary the use of matches, spark plugs, spark coils or other similar and uncertain devices and provides a simple and positive means for igniting the fuel within the pilot burner without the necessity of the operator moving from the drivers seat of the automobile.

It is obvious that some changes will be made in the arrangement, and construction of the various parts of my improved device Without departing from the spirit of my invention and it is my intention to cover by my claims such changes as may be reasonably included within the scope thereof.

. What I claim is:

1. A device of the class described, comprising a burner into which fuel is adapted to pass, a fuel line disposed adjacent said burner, at least a portion of said line being of high resistance material, means for electrically heating said high resistance portion whereby when fuel flowing through said line enters said burner, it may be ignited by said heated portion of said line.

2. A device of the class described comprising a burner, a single fuel line having a portion extending adjacent the burner and an end emptying into the burner, a resistance unit connected with a source of electrica-l energy mounted on said fuel line and adjacent said burner so as to heat the fuel passing thru said fuel line and ignite said 

